New Delhi (Agency): A businessman, Dinesh Arora, who was an approver in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has been granted bail by a city court in a money laundering case under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The special judge, M K Nagpal, approved Arora’s bail after considering arguments from his counsel and the ED.
Arora was appointed as an approver in the CBI case on November 16, 2022. However, he was later arrested by the ED under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case linked to the alleged scam on July 6.
The ED accused him of being evasive in his replies and uncooperative with the anti-money laundering agency, leading to his arrest.
Dinesh Arora was allegedly associated closely with Manish Sisodia, a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former Delhi deputy chief minister, who is also an accused in the excise policy case and has been arrested by both the ED and the CBI.
Both the ED and the CBI have claimed that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 permitted cartelization of liquor traders and favored specific dealers who had paid bribes. However, the ruling AAP has refuted these allegations.
The excise policy was annulled after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into corruption allegations. Following this, the ED initiated a case under the anti-money laundering law, PMLA.